The Post-Shiplake Options Programme kicked off this week with Year 12 students having the opportunity to attend a great variety of seminars, presentations and workshops. The programme is designed to allow students to see all the opportunities they have available to them once they leave Sixth Form, and to give them support they need to move forward in their preferred career.
The programme kicked off on Wednesday 14 June, where parents and pupils enjoyed drinks and canapés. The opening presentation came from Assistant Head, Sixth Form, Mr Richard Curtis, who gave an introduction to the programme. This was then followed with a presentation from Careers Adviser Mrs Louise Rapple-Moore. Thursday morning saw the pupils enjoying a variety of seminars and presentations that included Media Careers, Careers in Sport, American Universities and Oxbridge applications. After a break, pupils then attended the second half of the mornings seminars and presentations which included; Career in Business, Hospitality and Event Management, Working Gap Years and Apprenticeships, as well as a lecture on Student Finance Seminars. This gave the students information on managing finances when moving away from home, and made them aware of the finance available to them when attending University.
On Friday 16 June, pupils will be taking part in practice interviews and going through the process of researching Universities and Apprenticeship opportunities. They also attended a seminar on writing personal statements. During the afternoon, pupils attended seminars on the value of work experience and a Q & A with Old Vikings, discussing what they have achieved in the last 12 months since leaving Shiplake. Phoebe Eggar (16W), Connor Cummings (16S), Oliver Riley (16O) and Anna Davies (16S) were asked a variety of insightful questions from the Year 12 Pupils and they were answered with great detail. The programme was closed with a keynote speech from Holly Dempster from Microsoft, entitled ‘Careers and Dreams’. The inspirational speech from Holly sent a clear message to pupils that there is more than one way to reach your career goal. A massive thank you to all the lecturers and staff who made the programme possible and successful. A special mention to Mr Curtis who coordinated the whole programme, and whose final words on the week were: ‘all the presentations have been fantastic and the pupils enjoyed gathering a wide range of information for their careers going forward.’